Dismay over Cold Spring racial incident: Letter

I was dismayed but not totally surprised by the racial incident reported by the St. Cloud Times [July 27, 2021]: "Cold Spring family speaks out against hate after SUV crashes into home."

I grew up in Richmond and attended St. Boniface High School in Cold Spring. I grew up in an era when my friends and classmates knew no person of color. I grew up with a sense of community, of close-knit families — primarily German American where people cared for each other as neighbors even if we didn't know them well. We were unawarre of the underbelly of racism and believed racsim was only a part of the Deep South. How foolish to believe "it's them, not us." Racism is everywhere and it's foolish for us to deny it. But in 2021 we still deny racism. 

After graduation from high school in 1959, I moved to Cincinnati where I still live today. It's where I attended Xavier University and where I established my career. I go back every summer to my family and friends in Richmond and feel sad the way things have changed for the worse. There is a dvide between the haves and have-nots. People are afraid and angry when people of color move in. An area that was once lily-white now has a significant number of immigrants and refugees. At one time Minnesota was a welcoming state for refugees — now no longer. 

What I find most disappointing is the lack of acceptance and avoidance to deal with people who don't look like them. The Robinson family didn't feel protected by the police. It is alleged that the Robinson children were a target of racist bullying in the ROCORI school system but the school failed to stop the bullying. The police dropped the ball. ROCORI schools dropped the ball.

Racism is present in rural Minnesota but there is no personal or political will to do anything about it.

John Behnen

Cincinnati, Ohio